£100 a month food budget for two
- Thread starter PiKe
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You seem to be a bit fixated on protein or at least protein density. I made this mistake when cutting down meat. However, you need far less protein than the standard western diet, and by simply eating a decent supply of vegetables and tasty vegetarian dishes you will consume enough protein anyway without having to specifically maximize protein intake. This is especially the case for vegetarians as food like yogurt and eggs have loads of protein.
You need about 0.8g of protein per kg body weight, so for my athletic body I should aim for around 50g a day. But here is the thing, if you are not slim then you don;t need to have additional protein t support your body fat, so the ratio can decrease a lot.
Yesterday I had yoghurt for breakfast with some almonds and apple pieces, well over 25g of protein to start the day. I snacked on more nuts, seeds and fruit in the day, at least 10-15g of protein more. In the evening I had a lentil curry, 4g per 1/4 cup cooked but I likely ate around 2.5 cups (the curry had some sweet potatoes, carrot, peas onion etc). Likely around 30-40g protein. For lunch i had a large mixed salad with lots of carrots, peppers, celery, walnuts, sunflower seeds.
That is around 75g of protein with no meat, and 50% higher than I actually need.
we discussed it before, but yes it is the context of a reasonable exercise schedule .. where the sentiment/misconception that protein helps repair preodiminates;
if you enjoy vegetables, bread, carbs , it's easy to forget about protein ... you feel saited, but ate the 'wrong' things.
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(following my last post)
I'd like to know what people think of as a good quality bread ... do you have to go artisan baker , and even then they're lax on listing nutrition.
Caporegime
We bulk cook and freeze stuff for lunches/dinners and still average between £3-4 per person per day (no kids), and generally skip breakfast altogether.
But then we still eat really yummy healthy food, so I consider it money well spent.
But then we still eat really yummy healthy food, so I consider it money well spent.
(Snip) If you replace your £1.18 fancy breakfast with 20p (guess) porridge then you're at like £3.50 per day. That's only £105/month or £25ish per week. People could look at your menu without the prices and think you're eating really well, which you are. But actually it's not at all that expensive.
This is what really frustrates me about people saying it's expensive eating well. It's not, they just need some education. It's so frustrating.
Anyway good job, keep it up.
Soldato
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Jeez, I'd get about half way through juggling all that data and decide I couldn't even be bothered to eat, at that point. I like food, but not if it's going to be like being at work just to eat something... I'd rather go hungry and save myself the £1.25!
you've got to start putting cooking energy costs onto the total too , if its unduly complex - 14% of total
Soldato
i don't understand why anyone unless you really have to would purposefully want to eat like a peasant..
you owe it to yourself to consume the most nutritious food you can, skimping out in this area is just plain madness
your health and future well being should be your top 'expense' so to speak, save money anywhere else but in this area imo
£100 a month for two, like i said madness!
you owe it to yourself to consume the most nutritious food you can, skimping out in this area is just plain madness
your health and future well being should be your top 'expense' so to speak, save money anywhere else but in this area imo
£100 a month for two, like i said madness!
Associate
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And the opportunity cost of preparing your own meals. An hour spent cooking is £8.21 even at minimum wage!
Soldato
If i remember rightly that posted owns a restaurant/is a chef and so costing meals is vital to ensure pricing/margins
If i remember rightly that posted owns a restaurant/is a chef and so costing meals is vital to ensure pricing/margins
Sous chef, so yeah costing is quite important
Soldato
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Some people have different priorities in life. You could say the same about people who indulge in fine foods all the time, living their life for maximum pleasure instead of rigourously watching every gram of every morsel and counting every calorie... What a waste would it be to eat only exact portions of food for a perfectly nutritious diet, perfectly balanced with a perfectly precise workout regime that perfectly works off every surplus calorie, if you end up being run over tomorrow?
This guy seemingly doesn't care so much about food and would rather save for a house/car/computer/whatever. Presumably his future involves whatever he's saving for and is thus his top priority. His life, his call, really.
On another thread someone asserted that people will usually try and buy the cheapest food they can, regardless of income and choice. Not sure I agree with it, but they work in the food industry so probably know best....
Fair enough, if you do it for a living and already have spreadsheets set up or something, I can see that.Sous chef, so yeah costing is quite important
But it'd take me just so long to knock that up, calculate everything out, figure out the best portion sizes for everything, and re-do it every time I altered an ingredient, that the supermarket would be shut before I completed a weekly shopping trip!!
This was more out of interest, I already had the ingredients and had entered them into an app for calories so costing it was relatively quick. Add to that I tend to remember the prices/weights of everything due to my job I didn't have to check anything.
Soldato
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Eating a good healthy diet isn't cheap I think but should be a pretty high priority for most people. I've known various people to cut back on food to save money for something or other but you are what you eat and all that. Living on cheap pies or other cheap ready meals will be even less nutritious than premium ready meals which are of course not as good as cooking it yourself. Right now I'm eating a taste the difference Sainsbury curry (£3.5 discounted from £4), some padron peppers, at least a £1 worth and a tomatoe so that's probably best part of £5 and that's not all I'll be eating this evening (nuts, fruit).
I probably spend at least £200 a month on food for myself. Looked in the fridge just now and besides fruit and veg, there's sea bass, wild salmon (more nutritious than farmed apparently but more expensive) and some crab, various other things like conserve, semi-dried tomatoes, sauces, it all adds up. I could probably reduce cost a bit but some of my choices are convenience, such pre-prepared stir fry veg instead of buying the individual items myself and preparing.
Eating a good healthy diet is a high priority for me
I probably spend at least £200 a month on food for myself. Looked in the fridge just now and besides fruit and veg, there's sea bass, wild salmon (more nutritious than farmed apparently but more expensive) and some crab, various other things like conserve, semi-dried tomatoes, sauces, it all adds up. I could probably reduce cost a bit but some of my choices are convenience, such pre-prepared stir fry veg instead of buying the individual items myself and preparing.
Eating a good healthy diet is a high priority for me
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well the peasants did have some good ideas, whole grains, sourdough, native vegetables until Columbus & Co bought us sugar, and the noblemen put that perpetually on the nations table.
really I'd categorise that as ultraprocessed food ... you're slumming it this evening - any of the 3 meals Raikiri listed would be preferable.
edit: reposting the rules of fight club
1. Eat food
2. Don’t eat anything your great‐grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food
3. Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry
4. Avoid food products that contain high‐fructose corn syrup
5. Avoid food products that have some form of sugar (or sweetener listed among) the top three ingredients
6. Avoid food products that have more than 5 ingredients
7. Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third‐grader cannot pronounce
8. Avoid food products that make health claims
9. Avoid food products with the wordoid “lite” or the terms “low fat” or “nonfat” in their names
10. Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not
11. Avoid foods you see advertised on television
.....
Soldato
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I don't disagree with you there but was an example of the cost. Cheaper ready meals which I got the impression the OP was talking about, given their budget, would be even worse, especially their nutritional value. I minimise ready meals but do confess to a few a week. I never eat takeaways these days so probably more healthy than a couple of those a week
Soldato
Some of you should watch Eat Well for Less on BBC for ideas of cheap and healthy food.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0520lz9
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0520lz9
Soldato
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I did some medieval peasant food the other month. Salmon fillets, peas pottage, sorrel sauce and some 'artisan' rye bread, all for £3 per person from Waitrose and in portions that were massive. That'd cost you a good £15-20 in a restaurant.
Given how much of their meals are now considered the fancy, expensive stuff, peasants clearly had the right idea!
yes nobodies perfect , I need to swap to natural yeast rise, my cheap nemesis is corned beef ... suspect the great-grandparents ate that in the war ?